mid-15c., "heated room, bath-room," from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch stove, both meaning "heated room," which was the original sense in English; a general West Germanic word (cf. Old English stofa "bath-room," German Stube "sitting room") of uncertain relationship to similar words in Romance languages (cf. Italian stufa, French étuve "sweating-room;" see stew (v.)). One theory traces them all to Vulgar Latin *extufare "take a steam bath." The meaning "device for heating or cooking" is first recorded 1610s. Stove pipe is recorded from 1690s; as a type of tall cylindrical hat for men, from 1851.
"piece of a barrel," 1750, back-formation from staves (late 14c.), plural of staff (cf. leaves/leaf), possibly from Old English, but not recorded there. The verb (to stave in, past tense stove) is 1590s, originally nautical, on notion of bashing in the staves of a cask and letting out the contents; stave off (1620s) is literally "keep off with a staff," as of dogs.
device used for heating or cooking. The first of historical record was built in 1490 in Alsace, entirely of brick and tile, including the flue. The later Scandinavian stove had a tall, hollow iron flue containing iron baffles arranged to lengthen the travel of the escaping gases in order to extract maximum heat. The Russian stove had as many as six thick-walled masonry flues; it is still widely used in northern countries. The stove is often installed at the intersection of interior partition walls in such a manner that a portion of the stove and the flue is inside each of four rooms; a fire is maintained until the stove and flues are hot, and then the fire is extinguished and the flues closed, storing the heat